Today is the full moon.
Give your monthly preventatives!
Note: If you have another way to remember to give your preventatives, that’s okay too! Do what works for you. I thought it might be fun for us to all give it together.
Everything below was written BEFORE we went to war with Iran.
I had gone into more detail about my referrals and realized it was too much detail and might identify the patients so I removed that part and now the newsletter is pretty much what I did last weekend when I was feeling low. It seems trite now, but the moon is full and beautiful tonight so I’m sending what I wrote.
I have a hard job. There are days that I worry.
I sometimes need to make referrals. I make referrals when a patient would benefit from state of the art equipment and specialized expertise.
I have two old patients for whom I made referrals recently, with complicated and expensive problems, one of which is not doing as well as I had hoped.
My heart hurts for her and her family.
It is the Sunday of the third big snowstorm of the winter as I am writing this.
- Last week, the roof in the back of the hospital and over Del’s was leaking because of the ice dams.
- We found out because it was leaking through my fire alarm system and set it off.
- I have an old dog that barks in the night and she woke me up three times last night.
- My son’s low glucose monitor went off multiple times in the night.
- Navy Federal sent me a text at one am letting me know my paycheck had been deposited.
- I’m a 56 year old woman with hot flashes that wake me up.
- I wasn’t working on much sleep when all of this was happening.
I got up Saturday and I spent some time with God.
I’ve had to name God, Sophie. It is short for Hagia Sophia, “Holy Wisdom,” which is Thomas Merton’s name for God. I carry a lot of patriarchal baggage left over from a deep south Bible Belt childhood of God as an old angry man that judges me and Sophie doesn’t do that, so it helps. After I spent some time with Sophie I felt a little better.
I took a class in “Compassionate Badassery” which was about setting boundaries and is given with a focus on those that work with animals professionally. Link to the class is here: https://www.jessicadolce.com/
During the class we made a list of things that we know make us feel better and then we tucked it away somewhere where we could find it when we were feeling bad.
On my list was calling a friend and having a frozen coffee from Dunkin’. So I went for a walk, called a friend, and got myself a frozen coffee. I met another friend at the animal hospital to look at her cat. Because apparently I didn’t learn what I should have in the “boundaries” class.
Then I took myself for “retail therapy.” I went to Ocean State Job Lots and bought cat litter, a drawing pad, and a super soft blanket for my old barky dog. Then I drove to Northern Thrift in Coventry. I LOVE thrift stores! It was so fun to spend time shopping and looking.
I went to Borrelli’s Bakery in Coventry and bought pizza dough and mini pistachio cannoli. They dip the fried pastry dough in chocolate so it stays crunchy and they are fabulous! I had to park next door because EVERYONE was at Borrelli’s.
I found the MAD CAT cafe. They have ten cats there for adoption. You can get a Borrelli’s pastry and a coffee and, for a small fee, hang out with cats that need adoption! How cool is that!
I went to return my library books at the Coventry library. The librarian was super nice to me!
I looked up a place to have lunch and tried California Tacos in the Coventry Plaza. I had one soft taco, delicious! The young man at the counter was also super nice to me!
Then I drove back to the clinic, climbed up on the roof and started flinging off the ice from the ice dam. I didn’t fall off the ladder!
I went home to watch the skating gala exhibition at the Olympics and spent an hour on the phone with Verizon because I could watch it only on my cell phone but not the computer, nor the television.
Watching a skating gala on a 2” screen…
I thought I had missed it and then… There was a replay on NBC on my television and I got to watch the whole thing with my barky dog (not barking) and WHILE EATING CANNOLI. Bliss.
I went to the barn to strip Rosie’s stall and give her fresh shavings since we are getting one to two feet of snow tomorrow and she’ll likely spend the day in the barn.
I will end by sharing a couple more of my favorite things lately…
- Yuma Kagiyama, 22, at the Olympics
- He is skating at the edge of what is possible.
- I get goosebumps watching it for the third time!
- I was laughing out loud with delight the first time I saw him.
- I have thoroughly enjoyed the Olympics!
A friend made a cake for her birthday that I loved. I made it myself a few days later and I am sharing the recipe. It is from Outstanding in the Field: a Farm to Table Cookbook by Jim Denevan
- Boil two medium oranges in water until they are easily pierced with a fork, forty minutes to two hours.
- Then you put them in a blender or food processor, skin, seeds, and all.
- Add 2 cups of almond flour, (I added some extra sliced almonds about one-quarter cup)
- And six egg yolks – yolks only, whites are added later.
- One and one-quarter cups of sugar and mix
- I added a tsp of salt.
- Whip the whites from the six eggs into a soft peaked meringue and mix with the above ingredients until just blended.
- Cook in a springform pan, lined with parchment at 375 for an hour.
- Serve with whipped cream.
This is one of the most delightful desserts I’ve had in a long time. I’ve never before boiled an orange.
Watch out for the ice!
We see cut pads during freeze/thaw season.
Dr Mo is back and seeing all the little critters that aren’t dogs and cats.
I really LOVE the snow!
And my husband who does the majority of the shoveling!
Shop Local!
Remember your monthly heartworm and/or flea and tick prevention!
– Dana